


a trainer's guide to paradise

by blacknebula



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: I promise, Slight Canon Divergence, also the protag doesn't have an alolan starter, and some weird things happen, but the main story is the same as the game, just don't expect identical dialogue, maybe a lot of canon divergence, okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-24 03:12:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9697142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacknebula/pseuds/blacknebula
Summary: [Previously known as "oh, a galaxy merger"]If there’s one thing Sun knows, it’s that Alola is nothing like Kanto, or Johto, or even Kalos — not that he spent too much time there. The weather is warmer, the people are somehow kinder, and the Pokémon? Don’t get him started there — Alolan Pokémon are amazing.Dragged away from his home region by circumstance, Sun, already an adept trainer despite his youth, embarks on the mission most eleven year old Alolans do to conquer the Island Challenge. But Alola itself is changing; not everything is as peaceful as it seems, and before long, Sun finds himself at the heart of a shift that marks the start of something unlike anything Alola has had to face before.It doesn’t look like this kid from Kanto is going to get a clean break for a long time. (Oh, well — it’s not as though he likes the boredom of simplicity, anyway. Tipping the world on its head does have a certain charm, and he did come to Alola for excitement, did he not?)[Chapters will start short-ish and get progressively longer, hopefully! Comments are always appreciated.]





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> History is discussed, albeit briefly, a challenge is set, and a friendship is made. Under the setting sun on the outskirts of a festival, two trainers' journey across four islands begins.
> 
> Sun has been waiting for this for a while.

“So, Sun, you came from Kanto, right? Is it far away?”

He thinks back to their League, the difficulty of it all, the scorching heat of a flame that hardly missed him, let alone his Pokémon. _Should’ve swapped in a water type, or a ground type, or— anything other than a_ _Scizor_ _._ It had been a foolish decision to sweep in without putting that thought first, and they’d barely escaped with their dignity, consciousness forgotten in a long scramble back to the nearest Pokémon Center. Three attempts and they’d won only by the skin of their teeth, his Nidoking — the last of his six Pokémon to remain standing — swaying on once-sturdy legs.

It seems like aeons ago, months stretching to millennia. He wonders if those he left behind are coping.

“Yeah,” he replies, swallowing a mouthful of a particularly sweet malasada. The richness of the flavour is almost painful, and he thinks any more of it will numb his tongue. “We were on the boat for…” He pauses, forces another mouthful of malasada down, ignores the stupidly sweet burn in his mouth his mouth. “About thirty hours. It took a couple of stops along the way, but I didn’t get off until we got here. I thought we’d never arrive.”

“I’d go crazy if I had to wait that long!” Hau’s already on his third malasada, and Sun wonders, briefly, how he does it. “You’ve been to other regions too, right? The Professor said you’ve been to Johto, too.”

“Mm-hmm.” His nail leaves a crescent mark in the skin of the malasada, sugar clinging to the pad of his finger. “I took on their gyms as well as Kanto’s. The regions are practically next to each other.”

“And then you took on the League?”

“I did. Took three attempts for me to finally beat it. I didn’t want to become the Champion, though. I just wanted to know I could beat the League.”

Silence beats between them. Hau finishes his malasada and sets a hand on his stomach; Sun’s certain he contains a black hole in his gut, a gaping abyss into which any food is sucked. Wordlessly, he offers his own partially-eaten snack to the boy, who takes it greedily, bites halfway into it and then speaks again, voice muffled by what’s in his mouth.

“Why’d you come to Alola, then?”

Sun looks up at the sky, a watercolour masterpiece of orange and pink, then across the bronzed village to those still gathered around. Each one person’s enthusiasm seems tenfold of that of anybody else found anywhere in Kanto, and his people aren’t exactly a cold, stoic group — yes, Iki Town is small, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in exuberance and spirit. Content with its isolation and individuality, it embraces its culture with a stubborn lack of uncertainty — they aren’t pretending for anybody, instead choosing to pursue their interests as they see fit.

“The weather’s nice.” He opts for saying instead of any of the above reasons, because it’s true; there’s no worry about being caught out in a blizzard here, and even the rain is warm. “Your Pokémon are cool, too.”

“Yeah, Alolan Pokémon are some of the best. Alolan trainers, too.” Hau wipes his face with the back of his hand and sits up a little straighter, bumping his calf against Sun’s, skin startlingly brown against the pale of the Kanto trainer’s. “You still showed me up during that Festival battle, though.”

Sun shrugs absentmindedly. “I was using an Alolan Pokémon, though.” He’d been gifted an Oricorio in its Sensu form the day before; already aware that he’d been expected to fight Hau in the Festival, he’d been told to train up the small bird and use it in place of his other Pokémon in order to keep the fight fair. He had experience with the two he had brought with him, and for him to go up against Hau with a bond like that was supposedly plain cruel. It wasn’t as though he’d felt particularly miserable about the restriction — the Sensu form was like something from Kanto, and it certainly quelled any lingering homesickness.

Hau doesn’t reply to that, save for an appreciative hum around a mouthful of malasada. “You’re doing the Island Challenge, right? We should see who can finish it first, make it a competition.”

Sun isn’t going to turn down that sort of offer. He shuts his eyes and tips his head back into the warm breeze. “Alright, you’re on!”

They shake on it ("They do this in Kanto?" Hau quizzes, receiving a nod and a bright smile in response), and Sun has a feeling they're going to be friends.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Encountering Ilima for the second time is somewhat more dynamic than Sun anticipated. Enemies are met, battles are fought, and Sun sets his sights on the first trial of his Island Challenge.

The air splits and cracks around them, thick with the stench of burnt ozone, and the Zubat goes down with a strangled cry, hitting the ground in a crumpled heap.

“Good job, Electabuzz,” Sun praises his Pokémon with a bright-eyed grin, watching as the vanquished Skull Grunt returns the fainted Zubat to its pokéball with an expression of horrified disbelief. To the side of him, the other Grunt is doing the same, his own Pokémon pummelled by Ilima’s Smeargle.

The thugs flee in shame, leaving Sun and the Trial Captain alone. In the afternoon haze, Ilima’s hair seems almost aglow, encircled with a halo of light. Sun marvels at it for a moment, but then the Captain turns to face him, expression thoughtful. Clearing his throat a little, Sun stands up straight, though keeps his head cocked to the side.

“It’s Sun, isn’t it? That Electabuzz of yours is _impressive_.”

Swelling under the approval, the Electabuzz smirks, all sharp fangs and narrowed eyes. It’s true, though — Sun can’t exactly deny that when the it’s the reason he even managed to make a dent in Lance’s team of dragons, which is no mean feat. Even so, it wasn’t as though a Zubat — a flying type, of all things — was ever going to be a challenge to the electric-type Pokémon. Perhaps he ought to’ve tested the power of his relatively new Oricorio, but he can always do that later.

“I wonder how it’d hold up against my Pokémon. You’re doing the Island Challenge, yes? Allow me to test your strength before you attempt my trial.”

Sun takes a look around the empty Marina, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. It won’t do them any harm to practice — and this could be the chance he’s been looking for to train his Oricorio up some more. “Yeah, okay, let’s do it!”

Ilima smiles, though it’s far less practiced than the one he offered the Grunts earlier. He's true to keeping it fair, however, and heals up both parties before the battle begins, setting down rules as he does so: they can use two Pokémon each, but healing items are forbidden, and the battle ends when both Pokémon on either side can no longer fight.

With the knowledge that this should only be a short bout, Sun gives an eager nod, taking his place on the opposite side of the Marina. With his Electabuzz already ready to fight, he sees no point in withdrawing it — besides, if he recalls correctly, Ilima is a normal-type trainer, and his Electabuzz is more than capable of dealing with Pokémon like that.

He gives Ilima the first move, and the Captain returns his Smeargle, instead sending a Yungoos out instead. The look in his eyes is positively ravenous, and Sun has a feeling this’ll be fun.

“Yungoos, use Pursuit!”

It was smart of him not to switch out; his Oricorio would’ve struggled under the assault of a dark-type move. The Yungoos sprints towards Electabuzz, leaving a deep purple mist in its wake, teeth bared in a feral snarl.

“Wait for it…”

His Electabuzz ducks its head, flexing its fingers. The Yungoos draws ever closer, accelerating with vicious intent. Ten metres. Five metres. Two.

“Now, Electabuzz! Dodge and use Brick Break!”

It works. Electabuzz darts out of the way at an unnatural speed, arm swallowed by a blinding white light; it swings, striking the Yungoos straight below its chest, stopping its assault immediately and flinging it back across the Marina towards Ilima.

“Yungoos! Tackle!”

Somehow shaking itself out midair, the Yungoos lands on all fours and sets off towards Electabuzz again, this time zigzagging back and forth haphazardly. The Electabuzz lashes out with the intent of hitting it again, but it ducks out of the way, slamming into a black-striped stomach and forcing the Electabuzz back. It drops onto one knee for the briefest of moments, before rising, rubbing its nose and rumbling out a taunt to prove that the attack did nothing.

The Yungoos, however, doesn’t look so good. Electricity crackles around its body, and it hunches, spine arched, struggling to remain standing.

Sun grins, but it’s fleeting. “Alright, Electabuzz, let’s kick ‘em while they’re down. Use Thunder!”

Sparks jump between the Electabuzz’s antennae, firing in a wide beam of electricity that leaps in an arc and strikes the immobilised Yungoos dead-on. It snarls in blatant distress, throwing its head back, limbs shaking, and when the sparks die down, it sways, groans, and hits the ground, fainted.

Ilima’s brows knit in a frown, and he returns the Yungoos to its ball, reaching for his final Pokémon. “Smeargle, prepare to fight!”

“Well done, Electabuzz. Return.” Sun withdraws his Pokémon, putting the ball in his pocket and drawing out another one. “Oricorio, stand by!”

Ilima’s hunched shoulders relax a touch, features twisting into a curious mask. “An Oricorio? I thought you could only catch them in that form on Poni Island.”

“Yeah,” Sun nods agreeably. The bird before him steps back and forth, the very picture of elegance. “But Kukui gave me this one so that I could fight Hau at the Festival in Iki Town. He wanted to keep it fair, and he said that this form is most popular with people from Kanto.” Naturally, the Professor had selected the Dancing Pokémon for him because of his home region — the Sensu-style Oricorio certainly reminds him of the dancers back in Kanto.

“Alright, then.” He can see the cogs turning in the Captain’s head — normal type moves won’t work here, but there’s a drawback for Sun as much as there is for Ilima. After all, the famed Revelation Dance is useless while his Oricorio is in this form; a ghost type move is just as effective on Smeargle as something like tackle is on Oricorio. They both have to be careful. “Smeargle, use Ember!”

The Oricorio flings up its wings to shield its face as flames land at its feet, licking the cobbles and searing lilac feathers.

“Use Teeter Dance.” Sun extends an arm out, levelling it and pointing a finger at the Smeargle; the Oricorio ducks and weaves, spinning recklessly and bobbing from side to side. Entranced, Ilima’s Smeargle stumbles dumbly after it, eyes taking on a haunted, vacant glaze, unable to do much but follow. “Now, use Hurricane!”

Wind whips up at a beat of the Oricorio’s fan-like wings, and although Ilima shouts for his Smeargle to dodge, the confused Pokémon is blown backwards — it slams into one of the lampposts lining the Marina, denting it with the force of the collision, and slumps, falling over itself in a pitiful attempt to stand.

“Oricorio, go after it; don’t give it a chance to recover!”

“Smeargle, get up! Use Water Gun!”

The baffled Smeargle shakes itself out, waving its elongated tail and shooting a torrent of water towards the approaching Oricorio.

“Counter it with Air Slash!” The jet is cleaved in two with a ferocious blast of energy, and the Oricorio flips, landing mere feet from the Smeargle. “Air Slash again!”

“Ember!”

The Smeargle simply isn’t fast enough, and in its confusion, it trips over its own tail, small flames dissolving into nothing. Elegant as ever, Oricorio somersaults above what little fire is produced, bringing down its wing in a vicious slicing arc. When it darts away, its opponent does not rise.

Silence. Ilima studies his fallen Pokémon for a moment, before withdrawing it — when he looks back up, he seems relatively satisfied. “It seems you are victorious,” he comments, an air of barely-controlled excitement about him. Sun looks up from where he’s crouched before his Oricorio, rubbing the space between its eyes affectionately, and beams. “Yes, you’re most certainly strong enough to take on my trial — the trial of Captain Ilima. Please, come and find me when you’re ready; for now, I bid you Alola.” With that, he departs, passing Sun a wad of money for his triumphs.

Sun waits until the pink-haired Captain has left the Marina before turning back to the Oricorio. “Alright, then. Let’s go and beat this trial!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new Pokémon is acquired. A trial is beaten. A Nebby is rescued.  
> Why is Alola so active at night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a longer chapter! Hopefully they'll stay around this length. Hopefully.

Always late to the party, Sun had never found himself in the right place at the right time to receive a revered starter Pokémon. With the exception of the Greninja he’d received as a gift, he had always had to catch his first partner, or settle for second-best in the form of something found in every nook and cranny — a Zubat, a Nidoran, a Teddiursa. Only once, aside from his Greninja, had he clamped his paws around the pokéball of a starter and called it _his_ — and even then, his time with the Feraligatr had been cut short by circumstance.

Circumstance, it seems, often tries to trip him up. With a Charmander on his team and Normalium-Z in his bag, however, it seems less so. Alola is a strange place, wild and untamed and nothing like anywhere he’s ever been before, but Lady Luck is certainly smiling upon him here. He has far fewer complaints about this region than he had about even Kanto, and his patriotism is fierce at worst. Here, it seems, time crawls, but the ease with which hours pass is more than refreshing. It’s nice to tackle challenges outside of a gym environment, too; with no heavily constructed walls, battles are far more interesting, but he has to admit, he was hugely unprepared for Verdant Cavern.

The nocturnal Raticate felled his Oricorio with a bite during Ilima’s trial, but the Charmander soon avenged that (frankly embarrassing, type-based) fall. He’d never seen the appeal of Wonder Trading, but he’s certain that a Charmander is a more than reasonable exchange for an unimportant Pikipek found just outside of Iki Town, particularly when that Charmander was able to send the Totem Pokémon slinking back into the shadows with a single Fire Blast. Even Ilima was startled by the ease with which his fabled Totem was defeated; it simply hadn’t been expected.

There's a strange sort of satisfaction to be derived from taking on new cultures with remnants of your old one, and Sun can’t exactly say that the smile on his face after being congratulated wasn’t partly present because it was a _Charmander_ to defeat the trial (though Ilima’s praise, the exhilaration of it all and the Rotomdex’s fearlessly flirtatious comments once the Captain had departed did have something to do with it, too) instead of some other Alolan Pokémon.

The walk back through Verdant Cavern to its mouth is oddly quiet. It’s as though the residents have all vanished — and for some reason, Sun has a feeling that may be true. It’s not so much peaceful as it is oddly strained, the air thick with tension, the silence uneasy. He picks up the pace and leaves as quickly as he possibly can, keen to escape the cloying stench of _fear_.

Yellow eyes watch him from the shadows, wide and judgemental, clinging to the cave walls. Are Zubat as common here as they are in Kanto? He wonders if their trademark appearance has been altered some by the isolation, or if their wings allow them to travel far and maintain their bluish sheen. As a very young child, his mother had always advised him to stay away from caves, as the bat Pokémon were prone to draining the blood from unsuspecting travellers.

As helpful as Alolan Pokémon have proven to be to one another, they seem far more dangerous, angry and feral in their wild states. Sun speculates that if there are indeed Zubat around, they will also be even more of a problem than in other regions. He’s willing to bet that here, any lingering Zubat are much more than vermin, just as Rattata and their evolved form are.

He quickens his pace.

Outside, Ilima indicates that he can now explore a little more of the island, his proven strength offering access to formerly-restricted places (“Voila! Your world just got a little bigger.”), and that he must inform Hala of his victory.

He heads out of the trial site with the hopes of getting some sleep, but Kukui is waiting a little way up the path, bright-eyed and exuberant as though it isn’t three in the morning. Melemele’s never really _cold_ , but the nighttime breeze certainly isn’t warm, and yet the professor hasn’t bothered to put a shirt on. Sun isn’t sure he _has_ any shirts, though — since moving to Alola, he hasn’t seen the professor in anything other than the lab coat.

“Hey, cousin! You beat the trial, then?”

Sun digs into his pocket and lets the Normalium-Z be his answer. It was hard-won, but it was won, and that’s what matters. Kukui grins.

“Woo! That's what I like to see!” His expression is frazzled around the edges, though. Sun can tell his mind isn’t on the trial, as much as the professor would probably like it to be. Still, the explanation he gives on Z-moves is second to none, albeit a little rushed. Sun wonders why he seems to distracted — and then he’s told, thereabouts. “Say, you haven’t seen Lillie around, have you? She didn’t pass through here?” He rubs the back of his neck and has the decency to look sheepish. “I lost her somewhere on Route 3 — mind helping me look for her?”

“Hhh,” Sun exhales, a quiet whine that tickles the back of his throat. It’s so late, and he’s so tired. “Yeah, sure. Route 3’s up there, right?” He nods up the recently-opened path, past the barricade, and Kukui looks after him, clearing his throat affirmatively. “How’d she get up _there_?”

The professor offers a shrug, palms-up in a defensive surrender. “She was with me!” _Until she wasn’t_ , of course, but Sun lets that go unsaid. He just nods again — sleep can wait. After all, despite the heaviness of his body, finding Lillie is more important than a few hours of rest. The memories of meeting Lille for the first time still linger in his head; without somebody else there to watch her, trouble seems to seek her out relentlessly. The cuts on his back from the talons of those Spearow still haven’t properly healed.

In the late hours of the night (early hours of the morning), there aren’t many trainers on Route 3, but those that are still prove to be some sort of challenge. Not in the mood for difficult battles, Sun alternates between using his Greninja and the third already-present member of his team, his Crobat, to decimate any rival that meets him.

He was prepared for that — he _wasn’t_ prepared for the wild Pokémon. They swoop out of the sky with no warning, and one nearly took off his head, but Rotomdex’s warning (“Look out, big boy!”), a shameful scramble through the dirt, scraping knees and elbows in his haste, and his Crobat soon dealt with that.

Sun eventually finds Lillie in a meadow. More precisely, he finds her in Melemele Meadow, as Rotomdex informs him, staring out across a field of startlingly yellow flowers. At first, it’s as though she’s just admiring the scenery — but then he spots Nebby on the path on the other side of the gilded sea, glowing a dim and ethereal bluish-purple, and her concerned expression makes sense. Considering Nebby seems incapable of taking more than ten independent steps without being attacked, the Pokémon’s glaring vulnerability is cause for more than a little worry.

“Lillie?” Hands in pockets, Sun steps up behind her, bending to the side from the waist and looking back at Nebby. She jumps, a little startles, but releases her white-knuckle grip on the strap of her bag when she realises it’s just him.

“Sun!” The relief on her face melts into crestfallenness, and she draws in a breath, fidgeting restlessly. She doesn’t know what to say, and Sun can tell — not that he doesn’t know what she wants. “Sun,” she repeats, “I’d hate to ask, and it’s my fault, I know it is, but—”

“Sure, I’ll get Nebby back.” _Again_. Logically, they should probably defer to Kukui, considering he’s the adult, but if night means those horrid Rattata, then Sun doesn’t want to wait any longer and risk Nebby being eaten alive. Who knows what the little creature looks like to beady-eyed predators? She looks guiltily at him, but the nonverbal gratitude is all he needs. He pulls his hands out of his pockets, bringing a ball with him, and releases the Pokémon inside. This time, he’s not risking almost dying. “Okay.” Sun looks at his Pokémon — his Greninja, a remnant from Kalos — and it stares back, the epitome of steadiness. “Get Nebby back for me. Do whatever it takes.” He touches the middle and forefinger of his left hand to the back of his right; the Greninja mimics him and disappears, a blue blur swallowed by the shadows.

“Your Greninja is fast, Sun,” Lillie all but whispers, and Sun glances past her, up to the rock faces. It’s too dark to see, but he knows where it is.

He’d trained that Greninja almost ruthlessly once he had received it. The Pokémon had not been given a break despite the fact that it had been gifted to him at the start of his holiday in Kalos, and seeing as it had been the only Pokémon with him during that time (with the exception of his mom’s Meowth, though it was a lap-Pokémon most of the time), the bond between them had developed quickly. He’d almost been tempted to try and take on the gyms, but the holiday had simply been too short for him to defeat the League, so he’d put that dream up on the shelf.

Lillie is right. Greninja is more than just fast; it’s had no choice but to develop its skills, and speed always came naturally, so is undoubtedly its greatest ability.

“Yeah,” Sun agrees, nodding his head as the Greninja reappears behind Nebby, snatching the startled Pokémon as ordered. Nebby bucks and wriggles, its cries audible from all the way across the meadow, but the Greninja does not let go. Sun cups his hands around his mouth, rocking onto his tiptoes. “That’s it, Greninja! Bring Nebby here!”

Greninja heads straight down the middle of the meadow, leaping over raised rock paths and back into the flowers below — a blast of electricity meets one step, and it barely avoids the vicious onslaught of an Oricorio (“barely” is somewhat generous — more accurately, the Greninja throws up one arm and takes some of the damage, shielding Nebby as best it can), though not one like Sun’s own. This one, as yellow as the flowers around it, dances erratically, bouncing from side to side and swinging its wings, fashioned into pom-poms, violently.

“Don’t let it slow you down, Greninja! Use Ice Beam and keep going!”

The poor Oricorio never stood a chance. It crumples under the attack — Lille covers her face with her hands for a moment, and Sun looks towards her, concerned — and the Greninja keeps on going, eventually alighting on the ground beside them, Nebby still caught in one of its hands.

Lillie unzips her bag, and Greninja spends a few moments trying to help her wrestle Nebby into it. Eventually, the strange Pokémon is safely inside, and everyone can catch their breath. Sun reaches out, setting a hand on his Greninja’s shoulder in silent approval.

“Thank you, Sun, Greninja,” Lillie says, apologetic and grateful. She offers to heal Greninja, seeing as it suffered a hit from that Oricorio, and Sun allows her to, listening to her chatter about Oricorio and their various forms (“Though you already know about that, don’t you, Sun? You have an Oricorio of your own, and it looks nothing like the one that attacked poor Greninja.”) and following her out of the meadow once she’s finished.

“He-e-ey, Sun!”

They haven’t gotten a metre away from the exit of the meadow when Hau’s voice rings out across Route 3, and Sun stares at him as he runs over, bouncing on the balls of his feet once he eventually skids to a halt.

“Oh! And Lillie’s with you, too! Howzit, Lillie?”

Sun doesn’t catch Lillie’s quiet reply, too busy asking a question of his own. “Hau? Why’re you awake? Why’s everyone still awake?” It’s _three in the morning_ — hell, probably later now, considering how long it took to find Lillie and rescue Nebby for her — and the people of Alola are out and about as though it’s the middle of the day (then again, the people in Kalos were similar. It’s as though time means nothing to them).

“I just finished my first trial, so I came looking for you! Your mom said you weren’t at home, so I figured you’d already come this way!” Sun pouts; he _wants_ to be at home. Still, he offers Hau his congratulations — that trial was damn difficult, and if Hau beat it so soon after he did, then he must’ve breezed through it.

“Anyway,” Hau continues conversationally, gesturing with a hand. “I wanted to see if I’d learned anything from that trial! C’mon, Sun, battle me again! I bet I can beat you this time.”

Again — it’s _three in the morning_. But Hau’s got the same bright smile on his face as the day they first met, and hell, it’s not as though he’s going to be able to sleep much after a night like this, regardless of how tired he thinks his body feels. Briefly, Sun takes a moment to feel thankful that Lillie healed his Greninja; then he curls his hand in his pocket, producing the pokéball that contains his Charmander.

“Two on two?” he asks, and Hau’s grin widens.

“You're on!”


End file.
